How do I outline an image in Vegas Pro 18?

Former user wrote on 1/15/2023, 6:11 AM

I'm new to vegas. I have an image with no background and I just want to add a thick sharp white outline to that image (not border) (it's an image of a person btw). I can't find any way to do that, I only saw a video of a guy anchoring around an image and then doing something with a vignette but that's too much of a work for a blurry outline. There's a lot of effects in vegas pro, wouldn't there literally be at least one some sort of an effect that can add outlines to an image? How do I add an outline?

Comments

jetdv wrote on 1/15/2023, 7:28 AM

See the "outline" effect here:

https://newbluefx.com/products/elements/alpha-blend/

MikeS wrote on 1/15/2023, 1:04 PM

>an image with no background

Is this a still image or a moving image? And is "no background" transparent? Or just black (or green or blue ...)?

>at least one some sort of an effect that can add outlines to an image?

You'd think so, yes. But not quite. However we can in theory achieve the stated goal just using a mask and couple of the built-in effects without having to resort to any 3rd party effects (in one scenario you can do it with chroma keyer and glow - use chroma keyer to remove the background. Copy that layer to one below. Now set the chroma keyer effect on that new layer to Show Mask only, and add the glow effect. Tinker with the glow effect to get the outline you want.

I'll try and find the time to put a quick video together; here's a snapshot of what the effect looks like (with a black background added back in)

MikeS wrote on 1/17/2023, 8:28 AM

Ok, so this video presupposes you have an image (or a video, as it happens in this example) with a transparent background.

Former user wrote on 2/19/2023, 10:12 AM

Ok, so this video presupposes you have an image (or a video, as it happens in this example) with a transparent background.

Thank you very much! Vegas sure can be a little bit tricky to work with sometimes. Thank you for finding time to record a whole video, I appreciate it a lot!

TheInvisible wrote on 1/19/2024, 2:26 PM

Ok, so this video presupposes you have an image (or a video, as it happens in this example) with a transparent background.

Made and account just to say Thank You! That was a very good tutorial. I wish they were all straight to the point like this!

Former user wrote on 1/19/2024, 5:13 PM

@TheInvisible What I hope happens is that when the Vegas AI mask works flawlessly (fwill never be 100% perfect ) the outline effect and many others will become extra Vegas effects. There are those that would say that's not the role of a pro editor, that's your job given the tools available to you. But It's so easy to make multiple effects from a single break through as AI person mask they should be extra effects and even look good in marketing images

TheInvisible wrote on 1/19/2024, 7:05 PM

@TheInvisible What I hope happens is that when the Vegas AI mask works flawlessly (fwill never be 100% perfect ) the outline effect and many others will become extra Vegas effects. There are those that would say that's not the role of a pro editor, that's your job given the tools available to you. But It's so easy to make multiple effects from a single break through as AI person mask they should be extra effects and even look good in marketing images

The thing for some of us (me in particular) is that I have 0 education in editing. I searched for a good editor a year ago and decided I like Vegas, but I had literally 0 experience editing. Point is, with 0 experience, figuring out some of these things is virtually impossible without help from tutorials like yours or if there is an effect that sounds like what I'm trying to do. It would have taken a long time to figure it out without some help. I am starting to get better after teaching myself and watching tutorials, but even after a year of actual editing, I'm barely at beginner levels. Anything they can do to streamline things and make edits more intuitive would be great and should help pros too.